y/.l 



TO 



SIR JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL, 



K. G. H. 



MY DEAR HERSCHEL, 



IT is with no common pleasure that I take 

 up my pen to dedicate these volumes to you. They are 

 the result of trains of thought which have often been 

 the subject of our conversation, and of which the origin 

 goes back to the period of our early companionship at 

 the University. And if I had ever wavered in my pur- 

 pose of combining such reflections and researches into 

 a whole, I should have derived a renewed impulse and 

 increased animation from your delightful Discourse on a 

 kindred subject. For I could not have read it without 

 finding this portion of philosophy invested with a fresh 

 charm; and though I might be well aware that I could 

 not aspire to that large share of popularity which your 

 work so justly gained, I should still have reflected, that 

 something was due to the subject itself, and should have 

 hoped that my own aim was so far similar to yours, 

 that the present work might have a chance of exciting 

 an interest in some of your readers. That it will interest 

 you, I do not at all hesitate to believe. 



If you were now in England I should stop here : but 

 when a friend is removed for years to a far distant land, 



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